To think that JK Rowling is being vilified for standing for women and children?

[ExtraPlinky]

Getting sick of seeing her being torn down constantly on social media.
Her essays are thoughtful and careful and she's primarily concerned with safeguarding.

AIBU to say it's a witch hunt?

Thanks for clarifying, I genuinely didn't get what you meant and thought your suggestion for making a new thread was a disguised "fuck off".

No, it wasn't.

I don't think there is a phenomenon of righteous JKR detractors being silenced, so I'm feeling slightly cynical about that, but I certainly don't think you shouldn't be allowed to say it. But going on about it in a thread about her misogynistic abusers doesn't come over well. Find a clear space.

And yes, I do think one needs better reasons than the ones you gave previously if they're going to be taken seriously. All the ones that weren't about disliking her writing or the level of acclaim she's received from other people were "don't like her but don't know why". A person can feel that way, but how much weight are we supposed to give it?

I really want to know how many women here think the vilification of JKR is ok or not ok. Because right now anyone who isn't toeing the party line is being threatened.
I don't care if someone likes her work or not. I don't give a shit if you don't like her hair or her earrings or her right eye.
Do you think it's right that she is being given rape and death threats for talking about safeguarding concerns for women and children? Safeguarding concerns that have now come to pass? Do women here support her or are we happy to be gagged by the rainbow flag of kindness?

Women absolutely should be visiting the feminist boards and the idea that posts like this are moved is ridiculous - as if what happens to women should be hidden from women.

Too right @ExtraPlinky “hidden from women”- exactly.

People will tell you that of course the threats are wrong BUT....

The threats are to be expected for any prominent woman who stands up for women. But in this context, the refusal to take them seriously is particularly telling because they are especially relevant.

JKR's concern is not about trans women, but about a relaxing of safeguards that would be wide open to terrible abuse by predatory men posing as transwomen and would make both women and transwomen less safe. The fact that the response to this is an avalanche of death and rape threats from male people who want the very access she's worried about is damning proof that she's right to he concerned. These are the very people she's worried about and they're not even hiding what they wish they could do to her.

For people to come along and attempt to dismiss this concrete proof that she's right and women would be exposed to these people - and to use mawkish, dishonest emotional blackmail to try to paint women and JKR as the aggressors - is quite breathtaking.

It's definitely not ok - wish you'd had a vote on it OP.

@DrSbaitso

People will tell you that of course the threats are wrong BUT....

The threats are to be expected for any prominent woman who stands up for women. But in this context, the refusal to take them seriously is particularly telling because they are especially relevant.

JKR's concern is not about trans women, but about a relaxing of safeguards that would be wide open to terrible abuse by predatory men posing as transwomen and would make both women and transwomen less safe. The fact that the response to this is an avalanche of death and rape threats from male people who want the very access she's worried about is damning proof that she's right to he concerned. These are the very people she's worried about and they're not even hiding what they wish they could do to her.

For people to come along and attempt to dismiss this concrete proof that she's right and women would be exposed to these people - and to use mawkish, dishonest emotional blackmail to try to paint women and JKR as the aggressors - is quite breathtaking.

Brilliant post - absolutely 100%

The other thing is that if JKR - with her wealth, her very clear moral fibre and bravery and her easy access to lawyers - is receiving this kind of abuse, how on earth would any normal woman (like me) stand up for safeguarding in the real world?

Women like Posie Parker have had their kids doxxed by standing up for women and for safeguarding. Look at what happened to Marion Millar and Kate Scottow. Real harms visited upon their children or threatened to their children. The state machinery being used by TRAs to heap stress on vulnerable women and children.

Normal women are scared to speak up, of course they are. JKR knows this, she gets thousands of anonymous emails from women thanking her because they feel, they know, they cannot speak up for fear of the harms that would happen to their children if they are brave enough to state that sex is real.

If THIS is happening to JKR, imagine how easy it is to silence a normal Mum.

Mumsnet, by virtue of its anonymity, is one of the few places women can speak relatively freely and say what they really think (and we can't even do that on the feminism boards). MOST people absolutely agree with JKR, especially once they've actually bothered to read what she wrote.

Remember in the HP books how lots of people pretended they agreed with Doloris umbridge out of fear even when they secretly thought Harry was probably right and there was increasing evidence that he was? We're about there.

@DrSbaitso

People will tell you that of course the threats are wrong BUT....

The threats are to be expected for any prominent woman who stands up for women. But in this context, the refusal to take them seriously is particularly telling because they are especially relevant.

JKR's concern is not about trans women, but about a relaxing of safeguards that would be wide open to terrible abuse by predatory men posing as transwomen and would make both women and transwomen less safe. The fact that the response to this is an avalanche of death and rape threats from male people who want the very access she's worried about is damning proof that she's right to he concerned. These are the very people she's worried about and they're not even hiding what they wish they could do to her.

For people to come along and attempt to dismiss this concrete proof that she's right and women would be exposed to these people - and to use mawkish, dishonest emotional blackmail to try to paint women and JKR as the aggressors - is quite breathtaking.

And it is, yet again, somewhat remarkable that a mere woman can put that into words.

My hat is off to you @DrSbaitso It must have been tremendously difficult, given all of those others, those who have berated us on this thread and many others, who have not been able to even begin do the same!

Thank you, @SamphiretheStickerist. If it helps, please feel free to use those same words in any other places. And everyone else too.

I was so pleased and relieved when JK spoke out. I had been following the feminist board in absolute horror as women’s rights were given away by police forces, schools, shops, politicians and corporations without any consideration at all. All these people should actually be looking out for women and protecting safeguarding of children but we have been betrayed by them all.
I think JK could see where this path was leading for women and children and bravely spoke out in an attempt to stop it.